Hell Freezing Over: Rockefellers Oil Barons No More?

“The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is joining a coalition of philanthropists pledging to rid themselves of more than $50 bn (£31 bn) in fossil fuel assets…”

Now, longtime readers of this blog will know that, in addition to being a George Carlin fan, I’m not the biggest fan of the environmentalist movement. Close readers will know that it’s not because I hate the earth or don’t care about the future of humans. On the contrary: it’s because I feel our middling efforts in recycling and saving the whales is a distraction from larger causes, such as unsustainable food production and an overall highly wasteful perception of life.

Sometimes, I feel a loss in hope. Have we done too much damage to our infrastructure to fix it? Could we be past the tipping point for our species? It’s no secret that those who hold the money hold the power. But it’s not always solely with bad intentions. These people don’t set out in their day to day lives like Dr. Evil, plotting for world domination – at the cost of the world. It is out of ignorance, blindness that CEOs and boards make the decisions that they do. Example after example, many corporations have withheld or stopped the production of sustainable technology.

The first example that comes to mind is Tesla’s Wardenclyffe Tower, which would have revolutionized public utilities with its transmission of wireless power. However, the property and the project were deemed unprofitable. All J.P. Morgan had to do was put a little more money into the works. It’s not like he was hurting for it. John D. Rockefeller was a fellow baron contemporary.

Today, the heirs of John D. Rockefeller aren’t going to continue to make that mistake. Sure, they’re going to work like hell to make sure they make tons of money off of clean energy, but it’s a highly significant step in the right direction – in a direction that will see us still around, living sustainably. From the BBC News article, linked here:

“‘We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy,’ Mr Heintz said in a statement.”

So here’s my nod to not only a savvy board over at the Rockefeller place, but also to the people who helped cause this shift. To the people who marched in the streets of NYC, demanding change from those who can make a difference, just a day before the Rockefeller announcement was made. And here’s a nod to everything and everyone that came before them, who’ve helped possibly push this sinking ship back upright.